The Toronto Star had a special health section in its paper last Thursday packed full of articles on allergies and asthma. The online version of the section can be found here.
In it is an article about TV star Lauren Collins, who plays Paige Michalchuk on Degrassi: The Next Generation. Along with the warnings to the co-stars whom her character is scripted to kiss, she shares how it feels to have a life-threatening food allergy.
She also talks to children and teenagers about living with severe food allergies and the increased stress of being noticeably different at an age when you’re fighting to fit in. Lauren encourages, “It’s just about not being embarrassed … You need to thing about your health and you need to think about your well-being, so don’t be afraid to put it out there.”
We’ve been fortunate that Liam’s class is so understanding. He has special permission to carry his EpiPens with him, which we put into a little pouch that he wears on his hip.
The card attached to his pouch lists Liam’s allergies and carries Krystyne’s cell phone and home numbers (blacked out above) for emergency contact. We printed it on cardstock and laminated the card, then used a heavy string to sew it onto the strap. The pouch also contains a pre-programmed cell phone.
My son starts kindergarten this coming fall. We are already working with the school on the best way to handle keeping the Epipen close by. The plan right now is for it to follow him whereever he is. It will be passed from adult to adult. Thanks for sharing how you handle this. This coming year is going to be an interesting transition for us.
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